692 Arbor i 'culture of the Voyage 



Art. III. The Arboriculture of the Voyage of Captains King and 

 Fitzroy. By Captain S. E. Cook, R.N. 



These volumes are the result of one of the most extensive operations in 

 nautical surveying which have taken place since the peace, during which period 

 great and highly creditable exertions have been made by the naval administra- 

 tions, to wipe off the stain of the extraordinary ignorance we were previously 

 in respecting many portions of the globe (our own coasts and harbours not 

 excepted), which are of the greatest consequence to our extended naviga- 

 tion. 



It is impossible even to sketch the observations which were carried on upon 

 almost every subject connected with, or in any way bearing upon, the main 

 object of the survey, which reflect lasting honour on all engaged in them; and 

 we shall confine ourselves to those on botany, more especially to those 

 which relate to our favourite branch of arboriculture. 



The survey embraced more particularly the Straits of Magalhaens and Tierra 

 del Fuego, with the adjacent coasts on each side of the continent of South 

 America, of which we knew little except from the accounts left by the earlier 

 navigators. 



The southern termination of the continent is by the submersion of the 

 great cordillera of the Andes, which, before its final disappearance, displays a 

 prodigious number of peaks and valleys, of every shape and dimension, forming 

 a most interesting archipelago. Some of the higher points reach nearly 

 7000 ft. in elevation, and in one part leave a channel (named after the 

 Beagle surveying vessel) of 120 miles in length, by one in average breadth, 

 the coast line of which is so straight, that the eye takes in the whole length at 

 one view ; a circumstance, as far as we know, unique in the physical geography 

 of the globe. The effect of this half-submerged chain on the climate and 

 vegetation is very remarkable. The prevailing winds being from the Pacific, 

 the vapours are arrested by the mountains, and precipitated in the shape of 

 almost perpetual rain, making it, probably, the most humid region on the 

 globe ; whilst the eastern or Patagonian side, stretching towards the pampas 

 of Buenos Ayres, is afflicted with an excess of drought, causing almost 

 hopeless sterility, and resembling that of the deserts of Africa or the steppes 

 of Asia. 



The central part of this vast archipelago, the rocks of which are chiefly 

 primary, is covered with a vegetation peculiar to itself, and forming forests so 

 deep and luxuriant, that they are compared by Mr. Darwin to those of 

 Brazil. The monarch of these woods is the beech, of which two sorts, the 

 F. 6etuloides and F. antarctica, appear to form the principal mass. The 

 former species is evergreen, though the foliage is described as of a dull rusty 

 appearance, and it attains a large size ; one tree having a trunk 20 ft. 

 in circumference, carrying 17 ft. as high as 20 ft. and upwards, where it forms 

 three branches of proportionate size. The wood was found to be useful 

 for many purposes, though, as might have been foretold by any one ac- 

 quainted with the genus, unfit for masts, for which use it was recommended 

 by Byron. Most of the larger trees of this species were unsound at the 

 heart, no doubt owing to the humidity of the subsoil ; and it was necessary 

 to bore into them with an auger previously to cutting them down, in order to 

 prevent disappointment. The deciduous species (F. antarctica) is more 

 hardy than the evergreen, but we hear less of the timber. In parts which 

 are exposed to the almost ceaseless tempests which desolate this dreary 

 region in every season of the year, these trees, especially the last-mentioned 

 species, become so stunted, that their appearance must be very singular. One 

 tree, near Cape Horn, is described as being only an inch in height, and 

 spreading 4 or 5 feet along the ground. In many instances, in ascending the 

 mountains to make observations, the foliage of these dwarf trees, mixed with 

 shrubs, was so dense, that the party walked or crawled over the surface, to 



